Home Heating Oil

marcais · 3 March 2005 at 4:54PM

I ordered fuel online last Thursday with Meekins. The site says that you must place your oreder by 3pm for next day delivery. I ordered at about 1, but when you complete your order you get a screen telling you it could take up to 24 hours for your confirmation e-mail to some through.

So, at 5pm last Thursday I phoned them to confirm the offer had been received and to see if the delivery would arrive morning or afternoon. I was told by the man who answered that the order had come through and that it would arriove on Friday afternoon.

So I went home at lunchtime on Friday, getting to the house at about 1pm and decided to phone and make sure that I hadn't missed them already. The woman who answered said she had no record of my order and that the soonest they could now deliver would be Monday.

I then had a look in Yellow Pages and got a local firm (I think it was Sam Andrews). I phoned them and they said they would deliver within 15 minutes and that they would match Meekins price.

I got my oil in the end, but I won't be using Meekins again. I still haven't had my confirmation e-mail and will be checking my account to ensure that the transaction hasn't been charged to the card number I gave them when I ordered online.

konni1 · 9 March 2005 at 6:34PM

I rang 13 oil companys based in belfast about 15 minutes ago and got prices ranging from £140-£160.
I rang maxoldirect (used to be Connors oil) they quoted me £138 and will deliver tomorrow plus I think I have 14 days to pay if I'm not at home ahem. Well done Connors I mean Maxoldirect

ollywood68 · 13 March 2005 at 10:15PM

ollywood68 wrote:

I live in Bangor and got quotes from 10 companies for 1000 litres of oil on 25/1/05 - so its not the prices that are important but the RANKING of the companies. All numbers were obtained from the yellow pages. Here they are in rank order:-

Kane £273 91270439
Meekin £261 94432417
Carlisle £257 91275212
https://www.cheaperoil.com £256
Home £252 91477766
Ritchie £250 91812608
Nicholl £249 90777879
Down £243 91861556
Penninsula £236 91861515
Clandeboye £233 91478581

Then I phoned Maxol direct and they matched cheapest quote, was able to pay in 12 days or something like that and by credit card - so no up front payments.

I didn't like https://www.cheaperoil.com because you don't know who is delivering the oil and I assume the website is adding its commisson onto the cost.

I also found the dearest Kane to be very smug about their price and asked me to phone them next time i wanted oil without willing to move on the price. This is blatant rip off time by the companies with the dearer prices. Also Maxol direct admitted the price they gave me was rock bottom and was only doing it not to lose my business. But in the end, I, the customer was the winner

do i use too much oil or what? I have just checked my tank today (13/3) and I have about 1/3rd left in the tank. I am starting to think about reordering again as I don't want to run out like last time

SnowyOwl_2 · 15 March 2005 at 3:35PM

Hi Ollywood68,

Have you been phoning around at all for quotes? Like a dork I have run out, but am finding the cheapest for 500 litres is £141 incl VAT :eek: :eek: .

What a flipping rip off compared to the posts at the start of this thread!! Actually it's a rip off, full stop.

I'm down Newry way - don't know if location would affect prices (but so many are coming back at £150 you'd almost think it was rigged!!). Also called a company about 15 miles away and they refused to deliver "only" 500 litres to my location cos it's too far. How's that for complacent...

I would get quotes for 1000 litres but I'm not working at the moment and basically it is beyond my means, and think it's silly to get so much when prices are so high. I am starting a job in a few weeks...am intending to periodically get quotes during the summer then fill my tank when I've actually got an income -hopefully this strategy will save a few beans. In the meantime my choices are to be robbed or shiver.

If you've been getting quotes I'd be interested to hear the results. Your initial post proved quite a range of price is available, though it seems different down here in bandit country (how apt a name for it).

not-so-civil · 15 March 2005 at 3:54PM

Snowy Owl

Don't know if this will help, but I also ran out this morning. Meant to check at the weekend, but got waylaid by other MSEs. I checked lots of prices for 1000l of 28 sec on-line this morning as follows:

Cheaperoil £265.50
Kane £294.00
Nicholl £273.25
Carlisle £273.00
Fuel Services £294.00
Maxol Direct £275.42
Knockbracken £288.75

I eventually went to my normal supplier Hyland Fuels and asked them to fill me up. It was 1300l which worked out at £268.91 for 1000l if paid within 10 days.

I can then pay by credit card and pay off at the beginning of April.

All of these prices are for delivery to Bangor although this was not identified on most of the sites, and some of these suppliers will not go to Newry (was there on Friday last) but Maxol deliver Province wide.

I know from other posts that you are about to start a new job, for which I wish you all the best, but could you not take advantage of some similar deal untiul you get paid?

My son lives "down your way" in Gilford. He got oil from Patterson Oil in Gilford - 028 3883 1963 he thought they were quite competitive - I'm not so sure.

By the way I had my oil by 10.30 am this morning - great service from Hyland as well as a good price.

SnowyOwl_2 · 15 March 2005 at 5:20PM

Many thanks Not-So-Civil for your very speedy reply. These four months with no work really have been a bit of a killer with regard to my finances.

As tempting as it could be to use my credit card for payment of oil on the basis of actually paying later, I am going to resist. The balance on there is too high for comfort already, and I know I'll just end up paying masses of interest on the payment for oil in the longer term. Luckily now that I've got a job I can tackle the credit card situation. I've been sticking to paying the credit card minimum lately which normally isn't wise, but it does means I've got enough scraped by to pay for a quanitity of oil up front.

The price of oil is quite a shock...but I think I'm guilty of over-consumption so that is something else I'll have to correct.

So then, the cheapest quote I got in the end was Cheaper Oils (via the weblink quoted in this thread) at £135.50 incl VAT. Unfortunately they have an ascending scale of surcharges for delivery, getting more expensive the sooner you want it - the surcharge of £10 priced them out.

The next cheapest was Morgan Fuels & Lubes here in Newry - £139 incl VAT, delivery tomorrow/COD. Next in line was McGuinness Fuels at £141 incl - I went with Morgan Fuels & Lubes telling myself the £2 difference has paid for all the phone calls I've made. Everyone else was at the £150 mark as previously mentioned. I'm stuck with delivery tomorrow - I'll have to go jogging or something tonight, have a curry for supper, then wear a jumper in bed:D - I'll survive, many people have no heating at all.

All sorted now, but what stress!! Looking forward to the summer...

Snowy Owl

not-so-civil · 15 March 2005 at 5:49PM

To keep warm, SnowyOwl said:

I'll have to go jogging or something tonight, have a curry for supper, then wear a jumper in bed:D

Yeah we all believe you. Sleep Well

wotnoshoeseh · 22 March 2005 at 10:05AM

Recently bought 1200 litres of oil at £322. I try to budget for my oil usage by having an account with a supplier, paid by SO. I'm not so sure if this is a good idea though, as you're stuck to the one supplier.

Best thing is to ring around. Maxol DIRECT try to find out if you've ordered oil before from them and then quote you a high price. You get a better price from them if you tell them you are a new customer. They will bring the price down to match the best quote however, but it's a long drawn out process. Why can't they just quote you their best price and be done with it!!

jnd · 22 March 2005 at 12:54PM

Maxol direct always do this. I just let them ramble on then say I've got a better price elsewhere. They usually always beat it and when they don't match it.

ollywood68 · 31 March 2005 at 9:27PM

Need to order oil soon. cheaperoil.com £280 31/3/05. will post how i get on when i phone around.

Home Heating Oil

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